EDITOR'S NOTE: A separate story is being written about the Woodbridge girls team also winning a GMC title. A link to that story will appear on this page ASAP.

As a national-record holder who earlier this season bowled a seventh sanctioned perfect game, Woodbridge High School senior James Stoveken has enjoyed tremendous individual success, but until Tuesday was never able to lead his team to a conference tournament title.

Sports Illustrated will showcase Stoveken later this week in its long-running Faces in the Crowd section, which features some of the country’s best up-and-coming amateur athletes.

The segment on Stoveken, however, which has already gone to press, won’t include the fact that he helped the Barrons end a 10-year Greater Middlesex Conference tournament championship drought.

After posting a 1,120-1,006 victory in the opener, Woodbridge rolled to a 1,147-992 rout in the second game to sweep the best-of-three series for the perennial state power’s first league tournament team title in a decade.

“I like playing in team tournaments more,” said Stoveken, who earlier this year won the conference individual championship. “The team aspect is much more fun than competing as an individual. Once one of us gets a strike, we just feed off the positivity between us and get more strikes.”

Woodbridge won the Red Division title with a 10-2 record. The lone blemishes were two losses to Monroe, the defending league tournament champion. The Barrons will begin defense of their prestigious Tournament of Champions title next week at the Central Jersey sectionals.

“From the start of the season we wanted to win the Red Division,” said Woodbridge head coach Amanda Small, who was the busiest person at Majestic Lanes on Tuesday, running back and forth to mentor the Barrons’ boys and girls teams, which swept the league tournament championship for the first time since 2007, her senior year of high school.

“The game plan is to compete every day,” Small said. “We got challenged day in and day out and they handled adversity well. I’m very proud of them. It’s real nice to send the kids out this way. They worked really hard for it. Woodbridge hasn’t been in a final for the boys in (five) years.”

The fact that the Barrons endured such a long championship drought speaks volumes about the competitiveness of the Greater Middlesex Conference, which is widely regarded among the state’s best leagues.

“We haven’t won a title in a while,” Silva said. “To be part of it and win it, it feels good to check this off my list and to leave with a win under my belt. We worked so hard. We wanted to get it done now instead of waiting another year. It feels good to get it done finally.”

Polise rebounded from a team-low 191 that was dropped in the opener to post a tournament-best 278 in the second game as Woodbridge flexed its balance and depth with six bowlers contributing to the scoring in the best-of-three series.

Soto (495) and Stoveken (491) were Woodbridge’s most consistent performers. After leaving the second frame open in the second game, Stoveken rebounded to strike out on the way to a 256, the Barrons’ second best score of the day. Soto rolled a 248 and a 247.

“We throw one shot at a time and don’t let the mental game get in the way of throwing good shots,” Soto said. “It’s great to be strong as a team, to have friends to have your back even if you’re bowling bad.”

Silva, Soto and Stoveken – a trio of seniors – bowled together on one lane. Police, Simone and Bilawsky competed together on another.

“Everybody says it’s about family, about each other, and it really is,” Silva said. “If you see one of us struggling, it affects everybody, and everybody’s got to bring each other up. I’m proud that I can bring my friends up and they can bring me up when I have a bad game. It’s really the art of the sport, just getting back up. Everybody is experienced with that. That’s the best thing about Woodbridge.”

Later this week, Stoveken and his teammates will be thumbing through the latest issue of Sports Illustrated to read about the only high school bowler in the country who has rolled seven sanctioned perfect games.

No mention of the 2018-19 Greater Middlesex Conference team title will be made. But the Barrons finally have a championship plaque whose words will mean more to Stoveken than those on the pages of a national publication with more than 3 million readers.

“I’m happy we got the job done,” Stoveken said. “This is a great way to finish my senior year.”